OEA Members Call for Moratorium on New High-Stakes Tests

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At the 2014 OEA Representative Assembly (OEA-RA), members of the Oregon Education Association (OEA) took a strong stand on behalf of their students and against the overuse of new high-stakes, standardized tests. The OEA-RA is the largest deliberative body of professional educators in Oregon, averaging more than 600 member-delegates each year. Every year, delegates, who are elected by members across the state, debate and decide upon policy that guides the organization.

At the OEA-RA, educators demanded a moratorium on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the state’s new high-stakes test. Educators want to ensure that the new state assessment accurately measures student learning and that appropriate modifications be made prior to rolling out any new assessments in Oregon classrooms.

OEA members also approved items to:

Work with parents and education stakeholders to determine appropriate use of and options for assessment

Publicly invite Oregon legislators and every elected and appointed education public official to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test,

Call for congressional hearings on the misuse and abuse of standardized testing,

Ask that testing programs originate from or be approved by licensed educators instead of from the for-profit testing industry.